All Forum Posts by: Christopher M.

@Shawn P Kontrec Welcome to BP. I am in a similar situation - looking to house hack in the next few months. I have been watching listed homes (2-4 unit) for some time and I have found that, outside of the very bad neighborhoods in the twin cities area, housing prices have outpaced rental increases. In other words, it's been relatively difficult to come by a property that cash flows reasonably well. It's not impossible to find them on the MLS, but when you do, it seems they fly off the market quickly and tend to be in the suburbs. Anyway, I also suggest being careful with the Cash on Cash return metric for an FHA loan. The reason for this is that though a property may realistically give you a 10% COC, the return is actually quite small given you put so little down. For a very rough example, you could put about 12k down plus closing costs on a 300k property. That may mean you get into the asset for 20k. Let's say the COC is 10%, so the property cashflows about 166/mnth. Sound pretty good at first glance, but then you are only bringing in about 2k a year on a 300k asset, which is .6% per year. Point is that I like to look at other measures of return in addition to cash on cash. Alternatively, you could also run numbers as if you are putting 20% down to see how that adjusts your COC. I am relatively new to all this as well, so if anyway has pointers on my logic here, jump in!

Just a heads up that you can send private messages without a paid subscription to BP. One way to got about that is to hover your cursor over your image (or lack thereof) and click inbox - > new. 

Thanks for the heads up on Neighborworks Home Partners! Looking for a house hack 2-4 unit in the next few months. 

My initial thought is ideally, but not so common in my market, that your rent covers PITI and all expenses. More often, a good house hack should cover PITI with the rent, or cover at least the mortgage. Then, you can plan to set aside expenses with your other W2 income as if you were renting out the whole property.

Thanks for the warm welcome and helpful responses everyone!

Hi Everyone,

I am new to real estate investing and am less than 6 months from completing a doctorate in clinical psychology. I do not want financial reasons to dictate where and how I work and serve others with my doctorate, and I have found that my results driven, analytical, and entrepreneurial mindset are not well suited to some aspects of my chosen career path. 

While in the process of testing several online business ideas, I read Rich Dad Poor Dad, and I have been reading and listening to everything I can get my hands on related to REI. I believe that REI is the best vehicle for me to reach my financial, career, and service goals.

My current plan is to buy, rehab, house-hack and rent-out, refinance, move-out, and hold a 2-4 unit property in the Twin Cities area starting with an FHA 203k loan (if I can manage the red tape). From there I'd like to steadily move into multifamily properties as soon as I am able with partners and/or syndication. My goals include reaching 10k/month in cash flow and creating long-term wealth for the security of my family. I believe that reaching these goals will provide me greater freedom to work as a psychologist in those areas I find most important. I am also very involved with a local charity and have a long-term goal of providing an endowment so the charity's work can continue long into the future. Thanks to all contributors on the forums, and I look forward to learning more.

Congratulations, that sounds great. Thanks for the update. 

Just reading this in Early 2020. 

@Davit Gharibyan, any chance you could offer an update on how things went?